House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee today welcomed testimony regarding the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rule to increase the transparency, consistency and scientific reliability of the Department’s health standard rulemakings that include risk assessments. Noting that the Department has voluntarily invited public input on an internal agency process, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) lauded the decision to incorporate a public comment process into the development of the final rule.

“Despite politically motivated attacks designed to undercut the Department’s efforts, the testimony received today makes clear that federal regulators are acting in the best interest of workers by creating a more consistent and open process for determining workplace risks and protecting against them,” said McKeon.

“On August 29, 2008, the Department of Labor formally proposed to change its internal risk assessment policy and provided that proposal for stakeholder input.  The Department should be commended for subjecting internal policy to outside scrutiny, when it simply could have just changed the policy without any notice,” said Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), the senior Republican on the Workforce Protections Subcommittee, which conducted today’s hearing.  “While I will not prejudge the outcome of this rulemaking, I will say that I support the concept of greater transparency in the rulemaking process.”

“The Department’s proposed rule codifies existing best practices into a single, easy to reference regulation, and includes two provisions to promote greater public input and awareness of Department rulemakings,” said the Labor Department’s Assistant Secretary for Policy, Leon R. Sequeira.

“What the Department has proposed is very simple—provide more information to the public and those interested in a specific health standard rulemaking, make sure that any assumptions and uncertainties are identified and explained, and give interested parties the opportunity to review and comment on the science and data upon which the agency is relying,” said Randel K. Johnson, Vice President of Labor, Immigration and Employee Benefits for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“Contrary to numerous erroneous reports and speculation, the Department’s proposed rule is not a health rulemaking; it does not weaken any health standard; and it does not change the methodology for conducting risk assessments,” Sequeira concluded.

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